Computer System Provisioning Using Templates

1. A method comprising: deploying, using a computer system, a first version of a composite template including a container template and a workload template to a first computer system so as to create plural containers within said computer system, deploy said container template so as to configure a first container of said plural containers, and deploy said workload template so as to install and configure a first workload in said first container; and deploying a second version of said composite template to a second computer system separate from said first computer system, said second version being the same as said first version or being obtained by modifying said first version.

2. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising: modifying said first version to yield a third version of said composite template different from said first version; and after deploying said first version to said first computer system, deploying said third version to said first computer system.

3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said first container is one of plural nested containers within said first computer system.

4. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said first container defines an operating system environment and said first workload includes an operating system.

5. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising creating said first version so that it includes said container template and said workload template.

6. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said first container is of a type selected from a set consisting of hard partitions, virtual partitions, virtual machines, and resource partitions.

7. A system comprising non-transitory tangible computer-readable storage media encoded with code configured to, when executed by a processor, create a first version of a composite template so that it includes a first container template and a first workload template; modify said first version to yield a second version of said composite template including a second container template and a second workload template; and deploy said first and second versions to respective first and second computer systems so as to, for each of said first and second computer systems, create plural containers within the respective computer system, deploy the respective container template so as to configure a respective first container of the respective plural containers, and deploy the respective workload template so as to install and configure a respective workload in said respective first container.

8. A system as recited in claim 7 further comprising said processor.

9. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said first and second computer systems are the same computer system.

10. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said first and second computer systems are separate.

11. A system as recited in claim 7 wherein said code is configured to deploy said first version to a third computer system different from said first computer system.